Harry Brook’s maiden IPL century and Marco Jansen’s fiery bowling spell sealed a 23-run victory for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens on Friday.
Chasing 229 for victory, KKR didn’t have a dream start to the massive challenge as they lost the Afghani wicket-keeping batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck 0(3). Bhuvneshar Kumar lured Gurbaz to clear the boundary but he ended up mistiming the shot and the ball went straight into the hands of Umran Malik. Venkatesh Iyer 10 (11) sought to replicate his performance against Gujarat Titans in the previous match but before he could do much, he became Marco Jansen’s first wicket.
KKR decided to gamble by sending Sunil Narine early into the innings but Jansen bowled smartly and trapped Narine for a golden duck.
N Jagadeesan and Nitish Rana tried to bring KKR back into the game. Rana specifically targeted Umran Malik as he smashed 28 runs ik a single over.
However, SRH bounced back into the game as Mayank Markande picked up the wicket of Jagadeesan 36(21).
Andre Russell came in with expectations on his shoulders. He has already produced match-winning performances for KKR in similar situations in the previous edition of the IPL. However, this time it was not his day with the bat as Markande made Russell 3(6) his second victim.
Rinku Singh stepped on the pitch as KKR fans hoped he would break KKR’s record of chasing the highest target in their IPL history. Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh struggled but kept KKR in the game. Natrajan’s experience allowed SRH to regain control as he gave a major blow to the hosts by picking up the wicket of Nitish 75(41).
In the end it was too much for Rinku and Shardul Thakur to achieve in the final over of the game, as they needed to score 32 runs in 6 balls. Umran Malik finished off the game and restricted KKR to a score of 205-7.
The only disappointment that SRH would have after the game would be the number of chances they dropped throughout the second innings.
Earlier, Harry Brook slammed the first century of IPL 2023 and Markram scored 50 off 26 while youngster Abhishek Sharma played a quickfire knock of 32 in 17 deliveries. For KKR, Andre Russell bagged three while Varun Chakaravarthy claimed one wicket.
Put to bat first, SRH got off to a fiery start as their openers Mayank Agarwal and Harry Brook slammed Kolkata bowlers all around the ground and gathered 40 plus runs under 4 overs.
However, Andre Russell struck with his first ball of IPL 2023 and removed Agarwal for 9 in the 5th over of the game. New batter Rahul Tripathi did not last long on the crease as he was removed by Russell in the 5th over after scoring just 9 runs.
Captain Aiden Markram then came out and handled the charge with Brook. In the 11th over of the game, Brook brought up his first IPL fifty in 32 balls. Markram then hammered Suyash Sharma for 16 runs with the help of two maximums and one four.
It did not take long for Markram to slam a stunning half-century in 25 balls with a six over the deep mid-wicket. On the fifth ball of the 13th over, Markram fell prey to Varun Chakaravarthy after playing a knock of 50 off 26.
Brook hammered Lockie Ferguson for 23 runs with the help of four boundaries and one maximum. Abhishek Sharma along with Brook slammed Suyash Sharma for three boundaries gathering 15 runs in the 16th over of the game.
Abhishek and Brook in red-hot form slammed Kolkata bowlers all around the ground and took their team’s total beyond 200 runs in the 19th over of the innings.
Russell then delivered a stunning ball to break the 72-run partnership, dismissing Abhishek for 32 off 17 balls. Russell limped off the pitch after picking up the wicket of Abhishek. His struggle was clearly evident in the initial overs but now he was unable to carry on.
Heinrich Klaasen then came out to bat the craese. Aggressive batter Brook slammed this season’s first century in 55 balls. In the last over Klaasen and Brook gathered 13 runs to guide their team’s total to 228/4 in 20 overs.
Brief score: Kolkata Knight Riders 205/7 (Nitish Rana 75(41), Rinku Singh 58(31)* and Mayank Markande 2/27) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad and Sunrisers Hyderabad 228/4 (Harry Brook 100*, Aiden Markram 50; Andre Russell 3-22) vs Kolkata Knight Riders. (ANI)
